💋 Why our police chief is under investigation

💰 TN General Assembly Passes State Budget

The Tennessee State Senate and House both passed a version of Gov. Bill Lee’s $59.8 billion budget yesterday, with an eye on reducing the risks of potential federal cuts. Millions of dollars were rerouted to the state attorney general’s budget, local health departments, and hospitals. $35.6 million was also added to our Rainy Day Fund, bringing it to a record $2.2 billion. The budget now goes to Gov. Lee’s desk for signature. [NewsChannel 5]

• TN Republicans also moved around $180 million from the original budget to their own projects, cutting $20 million for Nashville Zoo improvements, and $35 million from the Duck River water project. [Tennessee Lookout]
• Why the Duck River needs our help [🎧 City Cast Nashville]

👮 Internal Investigation Into Police Chief

Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake has been accused of carrying on a romantic relationship with the mayor's Director of Children and Youth Initiatives while on the city's dime. MNPD has launched an internal investigation. According to a police spokesperson, the accusations come from a man currently being investigated for allegedly stalking the same woman. [WSMV]

👩‍❤️‍👨 Tips for Dating in Nashville

Dating in Nashville can be hard. On today’s City Cast Nashville podcast, we’re getting dating advice from a local expert about how to meet someone, great date spots, and more. [🎧 City Cast Nashville]

🏠 Brace for Big Property Appraisal Numbers

Property tax reappraisals are in ... or are they? Rates were briefly available on Metro's Parcel Viewer website before being pulled down yesterday, and increases in value since 2021 are said to be "significant but mostly expected." By state law, the certified tax rate will be reduced to remain revenue neutral, although a property tax rate hike is on the table heading into budget season. [Nashville Banner]

Nashville can whine a lot about transplants: They raise the cost of housing, can’t drive, don’t vote the way we want them to. I get it; I’ve definitely been guilty of transplant bashing. But also, most of us probably aren’t truly native Nashvillians. My Nashville family history starts in 1943, when my grandmother moved here from rural Tennessee. My grandfather followed from Colorado in 1948. What was life like in Nashville for transplants like my grandparents? Here’s the story of 1940s Nashville from their perspective.

Moving to the Big City

My grandmother grew up on a small farm in McMinnville, TN. Before she was born, the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 swept through her family, with devastating results. Her mother, my great grandmother, lost her husband and two children. A nearby farmer helped as she grieved, and that farmer eventually married my great grandmother. My grandmother, Eunice Louise “Jackie” Masters, was born of that union on June 30, 1926.

A good student, my grandmother won a scholarship to Nashville Business College, and escaped small-town life for the big city after she graduated high school in 1943. Nashville Business College, now no more, is best known for its record-breaking women’s basketball team from 1950-1969, with 11 Amateur Athletic Union national championships. My grandmother, alas, was no basketball player (my family does not excel at sports), and that was after her time anyway. Instead, she studied secretarial skills and, 8-9 months later, landed a job with the state of Tennessee as a secretary in the Division of Hotel and Restaurant Inspection. She dropped out of college, and never graduated.

Nashville in the 1940s

In 1943, the U.S. was at war, and my grandmother kept up a lively correspondence with a handsome soldier overseas. Eventually the two decided to call it quits, but she kept those love letters to taunt my grandfather with for her entire life.